Reviewed by: DNM
Developer: Immersion / Artificial Studios
Publisher: SouthPeak Interactive

I'm a jaded gamer! With hand on jaded heart I admit this with a sadness and a small but distinct tear in the eye. It takes a lot for this old gaming heart to beat hard and fast these days. Whether it's because I've got fussy in my mid-thirties or there just isn't anything remotely original to look forward to these days, but I can't help but be cynical. So when a game arrives in my clutches proclaiming a storyline of four teenagers getting together in a house, which is suddenly infested by zombies, you can forgive my cynical heart somewhat!

The game tells the story of Zack (the nerd), Carrie (the emo), Andy (skater dude) and Jennifer (large breasted cheerleader (obligatory I guess!)) and their battle against the zombie hordes and other assorted nasties. The first thing you will notice is the numerous items that can be moved, picked up & thrown, used as weapons etc., scattered throughout the game world. You will soon learn that items such as nails, batteries, and springs can be used at the games ingame 'shop', which when combined can make new weapons. All characters begin with a basic melee weapon, so you will soon want to be upgrading this to stand any chance against the horde - I can recommend the shotgun! Problem with all these items is that coupled with the strange top-down like view of the game makes everything extremely cluttered and at times impossible to work out just what the heck is going on, not to mention where your character happens to be on the screen!

...And that just about sums up the gameplay here, level after level of mindless button mashing without any goal other than to lay to waste all and sundry. Okay, the mainstay of many a shoot'em up granted, but 'Monster Madness' just doesn't achieve this with any aplomb. When you also factor in utterly bizarre game control mistakes that have been made, such as having the 'jump' assigned to the right stick button, makes for an even more awkward and not exactly enjoyable experience. Also, having the weapon cycle buttons defined in two different parts of the controller is just excessive, and a waste. The controlling system as a whole is incredibly shoddy, with the left stick directing your character and right choosing the direction, which with the choice of camera view just simply doesn’t work very well.

As you progress through the game more and more of the bestiary is unlocked, each appearance of which is preceded by a very cool animated intro. This is one area where the game excels, with original thoughts of ‘oh another zombie game’ fresh in your mind, it is rather refreshing to find the supporting cast are fairly imaginative and at times incredibly funny. Take ‘Granny’ for instance, with her entourage of cats was one particularly funny moment, having to avoid her deathly kisses and hurling her feline friends at you, all the while uttering ‘eat your vegetables’ and other such things. Actually, ‘Granny’ is the first real boss you’ll come up against. The ‘Fat Zombies’ are also rather amusing, launching into a belly flop and breaking wind resulting in the most grotesque plumes of green mist imaginable! I think the fun factor of the bestiary is probably the only thing that compelled me to continue playing. The fun factor slowly diminishes however if you happen to play the game on the default skill setting. Now, I don’t claim to be the most l33t skilled gamer in the world, but playing the game solo on some of even the earlier levels is just infuriating! Add to this infrequent checkpoints and inability to save the game at said checkpoints and you get the idea that fighting hordes upon hordes becomes a tedious shambles most of the time.

Each chapter of the game is preceded by a generally excellent comic strip regaling of the story (as much as that is!), unfortunately narrated over the top in perhaps the worst voice acting ever to grace a game. In fact, presentation is what the game does in spades, with the aforementioned bestiary cut scenes, comic strips and overall game design all excellently put together. The game utilises the Unreal 3 engine with the characters all nicely rendered in game, and the rag-doll physics employed on your defeated enemy is impressive, though highly unlikely that you could move a ten-ton Fat Zombie on your own!! It’s just so cluttered though, and no amount of tweaks to the very limited camera view selection can make it any better. The music score employed is rather good, and most of the time appropriate, ranging from the brash church organ driven horror sound to the plinky-plonky when things get eerie!

Multiplayer is catered for with drop in style play, but the game has serious camera issues when employing this option as it tries to follow each characters independent movement on screen. This option supports up to four players, but having played it with just two I can safely say this should be avoided, as it’s a cluttered and confusing enough experience with just two! It is worthy of note that the games story mode entitled ‘Adventure’ is not supported online, leaving you with playing locally if you can find someone keen enough to play! There are other multiplayer options available to you on Xbox live, but quite frankly lack of adventure mode online negates any reason to even bother in my opinion.

Monster Madness is one of those games where all the elements are in place for it to be a success, although nothing groundbreaking is on show, but ultimately it’s all been thrown together in the most haphazard of fashions resulting in a game that frustrates way more than it excites. It’s like a random group of people have all had little ideas, given them to someone else to implement and then blindfolded a random person off of the street to piece it all together. One to avoid.

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Available for	Reviewed on
PC Xbox 360	Xbox 360